Hi All! The blue text is the original webquest and the red text is my revision.
Introduction What would life be like without the television? The radio? The telephone? Those are just a few of the many inventions that have changed our culture within the past century. But which invention has had the most impact? Which invention best represents America? You will soon have to debate your view to this very question.
Task
As individuals, we each have our own opinions. And we often want members of society to hear them. One way we can achieve this is by having a debate. A debate is where you present your opinion or position to an audience and try to convince them your position is best. The task will include: • researching inventions throughout the 21st century in a number of areas including communication, quality of life, created by an African American or Womean, and liesure/comfort; • choosing one invention you and your group believe has had the greatest impact on American culture; • defending your position in the form of a debate for the entire class; convincing your class why the invention your group has chosen has had the greatest impact on American culture;
Process
First, look over these roles very carefully. Although there are five roles, four of them will be done as a group. These roles are: • RESEARCHERS-Investigate the variety of different inventions created throughout the 20th century. This role is a group role. • FACT-FINDERS-Search through the resource websites as well as other sources to obtain information and facts regarding your chosen invention. This role is a group role. • WRITERS-Each group member will write one part of the speech to make a total of four (4) paragraphs plus an additional two (2) paragraphs that compose the introduction and conclusion. • EDITORS-Edit each others work and look for ways to improve the speech as well grammatical errors. This role is a group role. • SPEAKER-One person will present the entire group’s position on this topic. Research Phase To get started, you must become familiar with the hundreds of inventions that have been created in the past 100 years:
• Book: Turning Point Inventions: The Light Bulb by Joseph Wallace Book: Turning Point Inventions: The Telephone by Sarah Gearhart Book: 1000 Inventions & Discoveries by Roger Bridgman Book: Mistakes that Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be by Charlotte Foltz Jones; Illustrated by John O’Brien Book: Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh Book: Black Pioneers of Science and Invention by Louise Haber Book: Incredible Women Inventors (Women's Hall of Fame) by Sandra Braun Book: Black Inventors, Crafting Over 200 Years of Success by Keith C. Holmes Book: Philo Farnsworth and the Invention of the Television by Russell and Russ Roberts Book: The Teen who Invented the Television: Philo T. Farnsworth and His Awesome Invention by Edwin Brit Wyckoff Book: Inventing the Television by Joann Richter
Once your group has finished reviewing the inventions, discuss them amongst each other. Remember, you must select an invention that you as a group believe has had the biggest impact on American culture.
Review of Culture As a group, come up answers to the following questions about culture. You can use your textbooks and any other information you have received in class: • What is culture? • What do you think makes up American culture? Objects? Certain things we do in this country? • Why is culture important? • How do you think this object impacted culture? • What would life be like without this object? As a group, you will use an online blog to record your answers to these questions. You will also use your blog to reflect on the assignment. Each member will be required to post on his/her experience working within the group as well as post on what you have learned during this experience.
Fact-Finding Stage When your group has answered these questions, use the resource websites as well as other sources to obtain information and facts regarding your chosen invention. Next, you will create a graphic organizer to organize the information you have obtained from your research. Follow the directions to create your graphic organizer: Using construction paper, fold the paper in two leaving one of the folded portions a little shorter than the other half. At the bottom of the longer half, write your chosen invention. Then cut the shorter portion of the paper into two parts and label one “Positive Facts about the (invention chosen)” and the other “Negative Facts about the (invention chosen)”. Under each flap, two of the group members will list the positive facts about the invention and the other two students will list the negative facts about the invention. Once the graphic organizer is completed, you will choose four (4) facts that you believe will provide the best argument and use them as the basis for your speech. These facts will lead to the reasons why your group chose the invention you believe had the biggest impact on American culture. In order for someone to believe your reasons, they must be supported.
Writing Phase Each of the team members will take one fact and construct part of the debate speech using that fact. Each fact paragraph must contain at least 4 sentences but no more than seven. Your speech must include an introduction and a conclusion. When constructing your speech, your group must use at least two of these types of supporting statements:
• Example: from your own experience or from what you heard or read Common Sense: things that you believe everybody knows Statistics: numbers -- this also comes from research Expert Opinion: the opinions of experts -- this comes from research Here are examples of how each of these are used: • Example: For example / for instance / let me give an example Whenever I go to a restaurant or bar and there are people smoking near me, I feel that I am breathing their smoke. This makes me a smoker even though I don't want to be. Common Sense: Everyone knows / if...then / It's common knowledge that secondhand smoke is very unhealthy for nonsmokers. Statistics:Secondhand smoke causes about 250,000 respiratory infections in infants and children every year, resulting in about 15,000 hospitalizations each year. Expert Opinion: According to.../ to quote.../ the book _ says... According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers each year." Here are a few guidelines for writing a “Convincing Argument”:
• Establish facts to support an argument • Prioritize the facts by level of importance to build the argument • Persuade your audience that your evidence and conclusions are based upon the agreed-upon facts • Support your opinion with reasons–either one very strong reason or several weaker reasons that, when considered together, give it strong support • Offer convincing conclusions All of this information is available in the debate techniques packet here.
Edit Phase Once each member has constructed their fact paragraph, you will come together to edit the speech. All members will review each others work. Remember to look for any unnecessary sentences and grammatical errors. This time will also be used to go over how best to put your speech together, suggestions on how to improve it, and adding the introduction and conclusion. Use this site for grammar help: Grammar Glossary or this book: The Complete Book of Grammar and Punctuation by School Specialty Publishing Speaker Phase
Once the speech is edited, your group will select the team member they believe is best suited to present the speech. This person will deliver the speech for the class. This person must be able to convince the class that the invention your group has selected has had the greatest impact on American culture. Question and Answer Phase Once your group has completed your presentation, the class will be allowed to ask questions. BE PREPARED FOR QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!! A classmate may want to know where your group obtained a certain piece of information so it is strongly recommended you keep a list of resources for you speech. Once your group has finished, the class will be asked by a show of hands if your groups argument was convincing or not. Your grade will not be based on this show of hands. You will be graded based on the evaluation rubric below. The grade will be a group grade and will be applied to all members.
REVISIONS:
INTRODUCTION You are a writer for a newspaper. The theme for this issue of the newspaper is the greatest invention of the 20th century. Get ready to put your reporter hats on! You will have to create a newspaper including the invention you feel had the greatest impact on America, an interview with the inventor, and any other aspects of a newspaper, such as advertisements, games, the weather, etc.
TASK Your task is to create a newspaper centered around the invention that has had the greatest impact on American culture. You and your group will have to decide on this one invention. Once you decide on an invention, the fun part begins. Not only will you have to include an article on why the invention you chose is so significant, but you will also need to research the inventor, because this newspaper needs an interview with the inventor. Now, here is where we get creative. Your newspaper must also include at least three other features that you find in newspapers today. These include, advertisements, comics, games, the weather, fashion, movies, sports, etc.
PROCESS 1. First, form your group. Each group can only have four members.
2. Once you've formed your group, the four of you will have to decide which invention your newspaper will be about (the invention that has had the biggest impact on American culture).
3. As mentioned above, there are two articles that must be included in your newspaper.
a. Article #1 is an article about the invention that your group picked and why it had the biggest impact on America, as compared to other inventions. In order to write this article you will have to do your research. Be sure to include pictures of the invention in your newspaper.
b. Article #2 is the interview with the inventor. Here you can get a brief biography of the inventor, ask what they invented, how they invented it, and why they invented it. In order to come up with this information you will have to do some research. Be creative with the interview. (HINT: It might help if you and your partner role play; one person being the interviewer and the other being the inventor.)
Here is where your group is going to be divided. Two people will write the first article on the invention. The other two people will work on the interview with the author.
4. A nice thing about newspapers is that they have editors who read through their articles to make sure they are well written, with no spelling errors or mistakes. Once each article is written, swap your article with the other two people of the group to proof read it. Everyone in the group should know what is going into their groups’ newspaper and should read it.
5. Now it’s time to be creative. Besides articles, newspapers are made up of different sections such as advertisements, comics, games, the weather, fashion, movies, sports, etc. Your newspaper must include at least three other sections that you find in newspapers today.
**Be sure to do your research! These three creative sections must correspond to the time in which the invention of your choice was created.
6. Every newspaper needs a name. Come up with a creative name for your newspaper.
7. Now it’s time to put it all together. When making your newspaper you can glue your typed up articles, pictures, etc onto construction paper. To really make it fancy you can use paper similar to the one that newspapers are printed on.
Victoria's Comments: Great job, Jen! I liked that you gave them a reason to be doing this webquest (creating a newspaper) as opposed to having it just be a regular assignment. I honestly like that you gave them less guidance than the original - I felt that the original told them exactly what to do, so instead of learning and discovering, they would just be following directions. Yours is much more creative and open-ended, allowing them to think for themselves and the teacher to assess what they have found more accurately. The only thing I might change would be to have the students each write their own article. Still pair them up to role play and edit, but I find that multiple people writing one piece is very difficult and often results in messy work. Also, having each group member write their own article gives you something individual to grade each student on.
Introduction
What would life be like without the television? The radio? The telephone? Those are just a few of the many inventions that have changed our culture within the past century.
But which invention has had the most impact? Which invention best represents America? You will soon have to debate your view to this very question.
Task
As individuals, we each have our own opinions. And we often want members of society to hear them. One way we can achieve this is by having a debate. A debate is where you present your opinion or position to an audience and try to convince them your position is best. The task will include:
• researching inventions throughout the 21st century in a number of areas including communication, quality of life, created by an African American or Womean, and liesure/comfort;
• choosing one invention you and your group believe has had the greatest impact on American culture;
• defending your position in the form of a debate for the entire class;
convincing your class why the invention your group has chosen has had the greatest impact on American culture;
Process
First, look over these roles very carefully. Although there are five roles, four of them will be done as a group. These roles are:
• RESEARCHERS-Investigate the variety of different inventions created throughout the 20th century. This role is a group role.
• FACT-FINDERS-Search through the resource websites as well as other sources to obtain information and facts regarding your chosen invention. This role is a group role.
• WRITERS-Each group member will write one part of the speech to make a total of four (4) paragraphs plus an additional two (2) paragraphs that compose the introduction and conclusion.
• EDITORS-Edit each others work and look for ways to improve the speech as well grammatical errors. This role is a group role.
• SPEAKER-One person will present the entire group’s position on this topic.
Research Phase
To get started, you must become familiar with the hundreds of inventions that have been created in the past 100 years:
• Websites Communication Inventions Inventions Inventions in Medicine Inventions Created by African Americans Black Inventor Women Inventors Women Inventors Inventions in the Clothing Industry Inventions in the Food Industry Fun Inventions Science Inventions Transportation Inventions History of Transportation Inventions Created in the United States
Books:
• Book: Turning Point Inventions: The Light Bulb by Joseph Wallace Book: Turning Point Inventions: The Telephone by Sarah Gearhart Book: 1000 Inventions & Discoveries by Roger Bridgman Book: Mistakes that Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be by Charlotte Foltz Jones; Illustrated by John O’Brien Book: Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh Book: Black Pioneers of Science and Invention by Louise Haber Book: Incredible Women Inventors (Women's Hall of Fame) by Sandra Braun Book: Black Inventors, Crafting Over 200 Years of Success by Keith C. Holmes Book: Philo Farnsworth and the Invention of the Television by Russell and Russ Roberts Book: The Teen who Invented the Television: Philo T. Farnsworth and His Awesome Invention by Edwin Brit Wyckoff Book: Inventing the Television by Joann Richter
Once your group has finished reviewing the inventions, discuss them amongst each other. Remember, you must select an invention that you as a group believe has had the biggest impact on American culture.
Review of Culture
As a group, come up answers to the following questions about culture. You can use your textbooks and any other information you have received in class:
• What is culture?
• What do you think makes up American culture? Objects? Certain things we do in this country?
• Why is culture important?
• How do you think this object impacted culture?
• What would life be like without this object?
As a group, you will use an online blog to record your answers to these questions. You will also use your blog to reflect on the assignment. Each member will be required to post on his/her experience working within the group as well as post on what you have learned during this experience.
Fact-Finding Stage
When your group has answered these questions, use the resource websites as well as other sources to obtain information and facts regarding your chosen invention. Next, you will create a graphic organizer to organize the information you have obtained from your research.
Follow the directions to create your graphic organizer:
Using construction paper, fold the paper in two leaving one of the folded portions a little shorter than the other half. At the bottom of the longer half, write your chosen invention. Then cut the shorter portion of the paper into two parts and label one “Positive Facts about the (invention chosen)” and the other “Negative Facts about the (invention chosen)”. Under each flap, two of the group members will list the positive facts about the invention and the other two students will list the negative facts about the invention.
Once the graphic organizer is completed, you will choose four (4) facts that you believe will provide the best argument and use them as the basis for your speech. These facts will lead to the reasons why your group chose the invention you believe had the biggest impact on American culture. In order for someone to believe your reasons, they must be supported.
Writing Phase
Each of the team members will take one fact and construct part of the debate speech using that fact. Each fact paragraph must contain at least 4 sentences but no more than seven. Your speech must include an introduction and a conclusion. When constructing your speech, your group must use at least two of these types of supporting statements:
• Example: from your own experience or from what you heard or read Common Sense: things that you believe everybody knows Statistics: numbers -- this also comes from research Expert Opinion: the opinions of experts -- this comes from research
Here are examples of how each of these are used:
• Example: For example / for instance / let me give an example Whenever I go to a restaurant or bar and there are people smoking near me, I feel that I am breathing their smoke. This makes me a smoker even though I don't want to be. Common Sense: Everyone knows / if...then / It's common knowledge that secondhand smoke is very unhealthy for nonsmokers. Statistics:Secondhand smoke causes about 250,000 respiratory infections in infants and children every year, resulting in about 15,000 hospitalizations each year. Expert Opinion: According to.../ to quote.../ the book _ says... According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers each year."
Here are a few guidelines for writing a “Convincing Argument”:
• Establish facts to support an argument
• Prioritize the facts by level of importance to build the argument
• Persuade your audience that your evidence and conclusions are based upon the agreed-upon facts
• Support your opinion with reasons–either one very strong reason or several weaker reasons that, when considered together, give it strong support
• Offer convincing conclusions
All of this information is available in the debate techniques packet here.
Edit Phase
Once each member has constructed their fact paragraph, you will come together to edit the speech. All members will review each others work. Remember to look for any unnecessary sentences and grammatical errors. This time will also be used to go over how best to put your speech together, suggestions on how to improve it, and adding the introduction and conclusion.
Use this site for grammar help:
Grammar Glossary
or this book:
The Complete Book of Grammar and Punctuation by School Specialty Publishing
Speaker Phase
Once the speech is edited, your group will select the team member they believe is best suited to present the speech. This person will deliver the speech for the class. This person must be able to convince the class that the invention your group has selected has had the greatest impact on American culture.
Question and Answer Phase
Once your group has completed your presentation, the class will be allowed to ask questions.
BE PREPARED FOR QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!
A classmate may want to know where your group obtained a certain piece of information so it is strongly recommended you keep a list of resources for you speech.
Once your group has finished, the class will be asked by a show of hands if your groups argument was convincing or not. Your grade will not be based on this show of hands.
You will be graded based on the evaluation rubric below. The grade will be a group grade and will be applied to all members.
REVISIONS:
INTRODUCTION
You are a writer for a newspaper. The theme for this issue of the newspaper is the greatest invention of the 20th century. Get ready to put your reporter hats on! You will have to create a newspaper including the invention you feel had the greatest impact on America, an interview with the inventor, and any other aspects of a newspaper, such as advertisements, games, the weather, etc.
TASK
Your task is to create a newspaper centered around the invention that has had the greatest impact on American culture. You and your group will have to decide on this one invention. Once you decide on an invention, the fun part begins. Not only will you have to include an article on why the invention you chose is so significant, but you will also need to research the inventor, because this newspaper needs an interview with the inventor. Now, here is where we get creative. Your newspaper must also include at least three other features that you find in newspapers today. These include, advertisements, comics, games, the weather, fashion, movies, sports, etc.
PROCESS
1. First, form your group. Each group can only have four members.
2. Once you've formed your group, the four of you will have to decide which invention your newspaper will be about (the invention that has had the biggest impact on American culture).
3. As mentioned above, there are two articles that must be included in your newspaper.
a. Article #1 is an article about the invention that your group picked and why it had the biggest impact on America, as compared to other inventions. In order to write this article you will have to do your research. Be sure to include pictures of the invention in your newspaper.
b. Article #2 is the interview with the inventor. Here you can get a brief biography of the inventor, ask what they invented, how they invented it, and why they invented it. In order to come up with this information you will have to do some research. Be creative with the interview. (HINT: It might help if you and your partner role play; one person being the interviewer and the other being the inventor.)
Here is where your group is going to be divided. Two people will write the first article on the invention. The other two people will work on the interview with the author.
4. A nice thing about newspapers is that they have editors who read through their articles to make sure they are well written, with no spelling errors or mistakes. Once each article is written, swap your article with the other two people of the group to proof read it. Everyone in the group should know what is going into their groups’ newspaper and should read it.
5. Now it’s time to be creative. Besides articles, newspapers are made up of different sections such as advertisements, comics, games, the weather, fashion, movies, sports, etc. Your newspaper must include at least three other sections that you find in newspapers today.
**Be sure to do your research! These three creative sections must correspond to the time in which the invention of your choice was created.
6. Every newspaper needs a name. Come up with a creative name for your newspaper.
7. Now it’s time to put it all together. When making your newspaper you can glue your typed up articles, pictures, etc onto construction paper. To really make it fancy you can use paper similar to the one that newspapers are printed on.
Victoria's Comments:
Great job, Jen! I liked that you gave them a reason to be doing this webquest (creating a newspaper) as opposed to having it just be a regular assignment. I honestly like that you gave them less guidance than the original - I felt that the original told them exactly what to do, so instead of learning and discovering, they would just be following directions. Yours is much more creative and open-ended, allowing them to think for themselves and the teacher to assess what they have found more accurately.
The only thing I might change would be to have the students each write their own article. Still pair them up to role play and edit, but I find that multiple people writing one piece is very difficult and often results in messy work. Also, having each group member write their own article gives you something individual to grade each student on.